This time the room was colored a bright red and orange. Zwaantie couldn’t figure out what it was supposed to be, and Sage and Ari looked just as confused. There was nothing but bright colors. Then Ari took a step toward the wall and shot straight up in the air.
He whooped as he came down. He hit the ground again and immediately shot up. He did a couple of spins in the air this time before hit he ground.
“Yay!” yelled Sage. Soon she was flying around just like Ari.
Zwaantie took a small step forward and felt herself propelled upward. The feeling was amazing. She rolled into a ball and didn’t quite get out of it before she hit the ground again. She landed on her behind and was again propelled into the air. This time she shot sideways though and hit the wall, and stuck. Zwaantie laughed.
She moved her hand, and suddenly she was flying toward the opposite wall, which she bounced off of right into Ari’s arms. He held her close as they fell to the ground.
“This is fun, huh?”
“Yes,” Zwaantie admitted. She squirmed against him, wanting out of his embrace. “Will you let me go?”
“Now why would I want to do that?”
“Because it makes me uncomfortable.”
“It shouldn’t. I’m your brother-in-law.”
They hit the ground and shot into the air. Mid-flight he let go of Zwaantie, and she plummeted.
After about fifteen minutes, Zwaantie was tired of bouncing around, so she found the sticky wall and stayed there while she watched Sage and Ari chase each other across the room. Finally, the room faded to black once again, and she fell to the floor. Sage and Ari were breathing hard.
“That was a blast, but I’m bushed,” said Ari.
“No kidding,” said Sage.
“Time to move though.” Ari clapped his hands again. Zwaantie found herself alone in a bright white room. The silence was deafening. There was nothing but whiteness. She sat down, not wanting to go somewhere she shouldn’t. She couldn’t see Ari and Sage, and that made her nervous. She’d let them find her.
Figures appeared in front of her. They were a bit fuzzy, and they weren’t Ari or Sage. Zwaantie squinted and nearly fell over when she realized who they were.
Raaf stood there arguing with Phoenix and Luna. At least it looked like they were arguing. It was hard to tell because the room was still completely silent. Raaf suddenly lashed out and slapped Luna across the face. Zwaantie gasped and stood up to rescue her, but Phoenix beat her to it. He punched Raaf in the nose.
Then as suddenly as they appeared, they disappeared.
In their place stood three smiling men. Each looking at Zwaantie and holding a single rose. Phoenix. Leo. Ari. Weird. They bowed and vanished again.
Now there were three coffins. Zwaantie didn’t want to look, but she had to. In one, lay her father, his arms crossed, peaceful in death. She sobbed when she looked in the second coffin. Raaf lay there, blood blooming out of his chest. Very quickly she peered in the last coffin and backed away. In that coffin lay a very young version of King Ajax. Zwaantie didn’t look close enough to see if he had a wound too. She backed away, wanting to get out of this room.
She ran into a wall. If she just stayed there, then she wouldn’t have to see anything else. She could wait out the thirty minutes. But the wall disappeared, and she was hovering above a wedding. Her wedding. She smiled as Raaf walked her down the aisle, but she couldn’t see the face of her groom. Damn.
The scene lasted only seconds before it shifted again. This time she was in a room surrounded by children’s toys. Zwaantie sat next to a little boy with spiky black hair. Together they built a tall tower of blocks. The boy blew on the tower, and it collapsed. He laughed and clapped his hands. A man walked into the room, but Zwaantie could only see his legs. He reached down and pulled her up, but again Zwaantie couldn’t see his face. The boy threw his arms around both of their legs.
The room went dark, and Zwaantie thought it was over, but one wall turned various shades of pink, and she could make out clouds. The wall got lighter and lighter until a sliver of very bright light appeared above the clouds. The sun. Zwaantie had heard of sunrises before. A few books had pictures and talked about sunsets, and she dreamed of seeing a sunrise one day. The clouds cleared, and the sun was high in the sky, but the sun on the wall, moved.
Rapidly it rose up the wall and across the ceiling. Then it sank down into the floor on the opposite wall. When it disappeared, the entire room lit up with a moon and stars. Heaven.
Zwaantie lay down on the floor to admire them.
The scene vanished, and the room went dark once more. A door opened.
“Was that wild or what?” Orion strode into the room and clapped his hands once. The lights came on. Sage appeared confused, and Ari looked pissed.
“What in the stars was that?” Ari asked.
“The last one? Your destiny, should you choose to accept it. I brought in a fortune mage to help me create it. Pretty crazy, huh?”
“No, that was not cool. Please tell me that was your idea of a sick joke,” Ari said.
Orion cocked his head. “You don’t have to follow the path. It was designed to be a future full of honor and adventure. If you don’t make the decisions that lead to that future, it won’t happen.”
“I sure as hell won’t be following that path,” Ari said.
Ari followed Orion out of the room. Sage looped her arm through Zwaantie’s, and they followed them.
“What’d you see?” Zwaantie asked.
“I’m not sure. It was bizarre, like a dream. I couldn’t make stars or moons of it. Obviously, Ari’s was a bit easier to interpret. What about you?”
Zwaantie thought about Raaf lying in the coffin.
“I don’t know. It was a blur.” She didn’t want to think of a destiny that would cause three men to die. Two of which she loved. That didn’t sound like a future full of adventure and honor.
Chapter 13
The Future
Ari met them outside. “We can head to the beach and see if Luna is there.”
“What’d you see Ari? In your illusion?” Sage asked.
“I’m not talking about it.”
“Why?”
“It’s not important. We should go find Luna now.”
Zwaantie nodded. She still wanted to find her. Especially now with the strange vision floating around in her head.
Ari flagged down a horseless carriage. The outside looked like their carriages at home but glowed. The inside was one large wraparound seat. They scrambled inside, and Zwaantie sunk into the cushions.
“Beach,” Ari commanded. The carriage whisked them away. No one spoke of the last room. Though Zwaantie was curious what they saw. She wondered if it was as ominous as hers. About ten minutes later, the carriage came to an abrupt halt.
They stepped out of the carriage and onto soft sand. Sage pulled off her shoes. Ari paid a vendor with his disc and bought a few fluffy blankets. They walked out several hundred feet and spread them out.
“Viggo finally turned his disc on and just sent me a message and said they went back to the castle. Since we’re here though, I thought we’d watch the stars. Is that okay?”
Zwaantie nodded. As much as she wanted to see Luna, the stars were more appealing at the moment.
They lay down and stared up into the glittering darkness.
Gazing up at the stars, Zwaantie never wanted to leave Stella. The people made her uncomfortable, the magic was disconcerting, the darkness was stifling, but the stars were its saving grace. She wouldn’t feel that way when they were no longer watching them, but for now, she reveled in the sheer comfort of the stars. It was so amazingly quiet it seemed strange a kingdom as busy as Stella could have a place that brought so much peace.
Ari was next to Zwaantie, his bare shoulder against hers. His skin was warm and smooth, and she had to resist the urge to run her fingers down his arm.
Sage pressed up against Zwaantie’s other side. “Hey look.” She pointed to
a group of stars. “There’s the constellation I was named after.”
“Leo showed me his. Can you color it so I can see it?”
“Sure,” Sage said and about a dozen stars lit up with a bright pink.
“Yours is bigger than Leo’s.”
“Yeah, more gods.”
Zwaantie still found it odd they worshiped the stars.
“There’s mine,” said Ari. A handful of stars lit up with a bright blue.
Ari and Sage argued for a few minutes of which one was better, and after a while, an easy silence settled over them, all lost in thought. Zwaantie worried about marrying Leo. Just because today was fun didn’t mean the rest would be.
Ari rolled over so he was facing her, his breath on her cheek. “Have you made a decision yet?”
“What decision?” Zwaantie knew what he was talking about. But avoiding the question seemed appropriate.
Sage snorted. “Are you going to marry Leo?”
Zwaantie sighed. “I told him I would. I don’t have a choice.”
Ari’s breathe tickled as he spoke softly into her ear. “Of course you have a choice. Do you want to marry him or not?”
Zwaantie’s insides twisted. A few quiet tears escaped from the edges of her eyes and slid down her face.
Ari caught one with his finger. He snuggled closer. “Don’t cry,” he whispered. “Leo’s not that bad. A little on the stuffy side, but since you’re from Sol, it shouldn’t bother you.”
Zwaantie sniffed. “It’s not Leo I’m worried about. Marriage is supposed to be about love, and I don’t love him. My heart still aches for Phoenix.”
Sage spoke, quieter than her normal voice. “What options do you have? Think of it this way. You already like Leo, even if you just view him as a friend. In time, you would come to love him. And if you marry him, then you get us as your family. It’s a win, win.”
“What about Phoenix?”
“What about him?”
“I love him.”
“Then you should find him,” Ari said.
“No,” Sage argued. “She has to marry Leo.”
“But if she never finds him, she’ll always wonder. Plus, he could show up at any moment expecting her to run away. Zwaantie needs to make sure she’s doing the right thing.”
Sage sat up a little. “Since when did you become such a romantic?”
“I’m not. I just want Zwaantie to be happy.”
Zwaantie swiveled her head around, and her nose collided with Ari’s. She pulled her head back. “Why do you care about my happiness?”
His eyes were serious. “Maybe I just know what it’s like to be pushed into a position I don’t want.”
“If I don’t marry Leo, then Candace’s baby dies and possibly the rest of Stella. How could you suggest I do something like that?”
“I’m not suggesting you don’t marry Leo. I’m just saying you need to find Phoenix and have closure or at least figure out what the best path is for your future.”
“If he says he loves me and asks me to run away with him, would you support that?”
“No.”
Zwaantie creased her eyebrows together. “I don’t understand.”
He sat up, staring out over the sea. “In Sol you would never dream of having a lover on the side, but it’s very common here. You and Leo could be married and still keep Phoenix around. I can guarantee you Leo will have lovers.”
Zwaantie tried not to show the shock on her face. “No way.”
“I’m just saying it’s an option,” Ari said.
Lovers. The idea was preposterous. No, she wouldn’t be able to do that.
She would marry Leo because it was the right thing to do. She couldn’t imagine doing something that would condemn little Raaf to death. Lovers were out of the question.
“You two will come visit us in Sol right? You know I’ll be queen. We’ll have to live over there.”
Sage squealed. “Duh. But you’ll have to come back here to deliver my babies because there is no way in hell I’m going to have them without a healer near. You can visit us, right?”
“Yes, I can come visit. But you must promise to come stay with us sometimes as well.”
“Oh yeah. That’ll be easy for me. Not so much for Ari.”
“Why?”
Ari grumbled. “Because I’ll be king. Something I don’t want. Father keeps pushing me to marry. I think he’s ready to be done.”
“Why don’t you marry? It’s not like your lifestyle would change much. You’ll still get to sleep with whomever you want.” Zwaantie could barely get the words out, because she was disgusted with the idea. Except, she understood exactly where Ari was coming from. He was being forced into a position he didn’t want, just like her.
Sage laughed. “Yeah, he wishes.”
“Why is that a problem?” Zwaantie asked.
Ari sulked. It was strange to see him anything other than happy. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Try me. I just told you about my fears with marrying Leo. You owe it to me to share something.”
His eyes flicked to Sage.
“I’m gonna go see if I can find some shells,” Sage said and skipped off down the beach.
Ari scooted closer to Zwaantie and dropped his voice.
“Father has always been about duty. You do things because they are expected of you in your position. I’ve always been what he’s wanted me to be.”
Zwaantie snorted, and Ari looked at her funny. “Sorry, I can completely relate. I didn’t realize you had a sense of duty in Stella.”
Ari nodded. “We do. My father has given me enough freedom to allow me to choose most of my own path, and I don’t resent him. I like the idea of being a king and the power that comes with it, but the mundane day-to-day things bore the tears out of me.”
“Me too. Good thing you and I aren’t getting married. We’d both skip meetings all the time. Our kingdoms would fall apart.”
He found a shell and fidgeted with it without responding.
“You aren’t telling me everything.” Zwaantie searched his face until he met her eyes. “You can trust me.” Zwaantie wasn’t sure why she wanted to know his story or why she wanted him to trust her.
His deep gray eyes bore into hers, and she wondered how on earth all these boys in Stella got such gorgeous eyes and so many eyelashes.
“Mom hated the fact that my dad slept with so many women. She won’t talk to any of the kids but me. And Father was not a prolific king. He only has twelve kids. Most have between thirty and fifty. My great-great-grandfather had over a hundred. When I was thirteen, she made me promise that after I married, I wouldn’t sleep with anyone other than my own wife.”
“I think she’s right, but no offense, you made the promise when you were thirteen. If she had waited until now to ask that of you, you wouldn’t have promised, right?”
He laughed. “No, I wouldn’t have. But if it were easy, I’d use that excuse. But she had the promise bound with magic. I can’t break the promise. Even if I wanted to.”
“What happens if you do break it, will you die?”
He snorted. “No, all magical bonds promise something different. Mother crafted the whole thing, and she decided if I didn’t keep my promise my, uh…” He cleared his throat and looked down. “Well, my best buddy will fall off.”
Zwaantie creased her eyebrows together. “Your what?”
He wiggled his finger in front of her face. “You know, my…”
“Your finger?” Zwaantie was so confused. He laughed at her expression.
He dropped his voice to a whisper. “No, my penis.”
Zwaantie gasped. “That’s horrible. What kind of a mother would do that?”
“The kind that wanted to make sure I would keep my promise to her. She figured it would be worse than death for me. And she was right.”
“I kind of hate your mother right now.”
“Yeah, I did for a while, but now we’re close. We don’t talk about it. But I promi
sed myself I would never get married. I didn’t foresee the pressure Father would put on me.”
“Why did you make the promise then? It seems this whole problem could’ve been solved if you had simply refused to make the promise.”
“I was thirteen, a virgin, and wanting nothing more than to please my mother, who I didn’t have to share with anyone. Father spent a good deal of his time with his other children as well, and Mother kept me close to her side. She didn’t want me interacting with the other kids. I didn’t even meet Sage until a few years ago.”
“But you two are so close.”
“Yeah, she saved me from a pretty bad decision, and we’ve been best friends ever since. We both live crazy lifestyles, and we don’t judge one another. But I’ve managed to build relationships with most of my brothers and sisters.”
“What changed? I mean when did you realize maybe your mother didn’t have your best interest at heart?”
“Three days after Mother made me promise my life away, Father found out about it. He was furious. I’d never seen him so angry. He took me away from her that night, and we spent the next month together. He introduced me to my siblings. During that month, I lost my virginity, and I sleep with different girls practically every night. Father is waiting for me to ‘get it out of my system’ so I can marry.”
He was quiet after that, and she found it difficult to express any of her own thoughts. He further confirmed to her maybe life in Sol wasn’t so bad with all the rules. Up until this afternoon she’d never dreamed of sleeping with another man. She felt guilt for simply kissing Phoenix. This utter freedom seemed too much.
“Don’t you ever get tired of it?” Zwaantie asked.
“Sex? No way.”
“No, I meant different girls. Isn’t part of having a lover confiding fears and talking late into the night? If you’re with a new girl all the time, how do you even learn about love and sacrifice or even companionship? I can’t imagine sleeping with someone just for the sake of sex.”
He snorted. “That’s because you’ve never had sex.”
Zwaantie didn’t answer, and once again found herself staring up at those elusive stars. Two weeks ago, she’d never imagined a conversation like the one she just had. Now she was being told it was perfectly acceptable to be married to one man and take another as a lover. What would become of her?
Stella and Sol Box Set Page 25